I’ve been silently watching Owen – his natural instincts to learn and the skills he’s trying to acquire. Here’s his educational curriculum (self-imposed):
1. Open stuff
2. Close stuff
3. Repeat 1 and 2 endlessly.
4. Look at stuff closely
5. Bite stuff to test its taste and/or texture
6. Desperately want what someone else has
7. Find comfort quickly when tired or scared in the form of mom, dad or blanket
8. Dance around
Watching all of this, I can’t help but think that his little brain is learning essential survival skills that may or may not be relevant to the world in which he’ll live. Despite our recent advances – and by recent, I mean in the last 500 years or so – his brain is still programmed to survive in a much more primal arena.
Our technology, and therefore our lives and focus, have evolved much faster than our biological brains. Evolution isn’t as quick as human ingenuity. Because of this, we are unsuited for our current tasks and lives. Significant evolution takes hundreds of thousands of years, and yet only 15,000 years ago we lived in small tribes as hunter-gatherers. We still have that primal brain, but somehow we are supposed to multi-task insignificant and meaningless details and function in a world void of basic survival instincts such as hunting, gathering, finding shelter or avoiding large predators.
But these basic skills are still what the brain first tries to establish.
1. Open stuff –
A basic gathering skill. “Good” stuff is often
hidden inside things.
2. Close stuff –
Protection and secrecy of the good stuff you’ve
found
3. Repeat 1 and 2 endlessly –
Figure out how something works
4. Look at stuff closely –
Learn the intricacies of a thing in case you need
that information later
5. Bite stuff to test its taste and/or texture –
Establish if something is food or is durable for
other purposes
6. Desperately want what someone else has –
Survival of the fittest and/or strongest
7. Find comfort quickly when tired or scared in the
form of parents or blanket –
Get away from scary or dangerous things
8. Dance around –
Figure out what your body is capable of. Also,
possibly, the appreciation of music, a higher level brain process.
So Owen’s brain is going through its evolutionary start-up with no idea of its historical context. It could be 2007, it could be 40,000 B.C. Only later will it begin to deviate and adapt to the reality of his surroundings – playing instruments, working remote controls, or tying shoes. These are cultural skills and ones at which his brain will slowly shift from instinctive learning to contextual learning.
In the meantime, it’s fun to watch him explore the world around him. At least in this era it’s my nightstand he aggressively plunders and not the dark holes of venomous creatures.
